World Championships: Summer McIntosh Calls 800 Free Bronze ‘Really Big Lesson’

At several moments during the final of the women’s 800 freestyle at the World Championships, Summer McIntosh appeared on the verge of taking over.

The Canadian star had produced three dominant wins this week, and even the relentless Katie Ledecky might have trouble keeping up. Ledecky had led the entire way, but McIntosh stayed within tenths before finally flipping first at the 700-meter mark.

But McIntosh could not match the final surges from Ledecky or Lani Pallister, and her well-publicized quest to win five individual gold medals came to an end. She still won bronze, her time of 8:07.39 the second-quickest of her career and the 10th-best effort ever recorded. McIntosh will be heavily favored to add a fourth gold in Sunday’s 400 IM on the meet’s final day, her world record of 4:23.65 in the event almost 10 seconds clear of the No. 2 seed.

But in the aftermath of the 800, McIntosh could not mask her disappointment. While issuing congratulations to Ledecky and Pallister, she called her own performance “obviously … not even close to what I wanted time-wise, place-wise, how I executed the race.”

McIntosh criticized herself for “thinking too much because it’s the 800,” an event she had not raced in international competition since the Tokyo Olympics, when as a 14-year-old she didn’t make it out of the heats. She has built up a solid record of 800-meter performances and is the only swimmer to beat Ledecky in an 800-meter race since Ledecky’s emergence on the international scene 13 years ago (at a local meet in Florida), and she nearly nabbed Ledecky’s world record at Canadian Trials in June.

McIntosh compared this result to her performance in the 400 free at the 2023 Worlds. She entered that race as world-record holder but ended up falling out of podium contention while losing her top mark to Ariarne Titmus. McIntosh grew from that race, going on to win medals in all her remaining events that week and perform much better in the Paris Olympic final.

“I think I was thinking too much about Katie being beside me and trying to keep up with her and not let her take over too much, rather than just swimming my own race,” McIntosh said. “I went 8:05 at Trials, but I’m a lot more tired here. I think that was a big learning lesson for me. This feels like a big flashback from Fukuoka 400 free. It’ll definitely take some time, this is a new event for me and I have lots to learn in it and we’ll see where it takes me in the next few years heading into LA.”

Big moments have rarely been too much for McIntosh to handle, as evidenced by her expanding collection of international gold medal. But she was profoundly dissatisfied with how she handled this one while contending with Ledecky’s 800-meter mastery on the way to the American’s seventh world title in the event.

“I hate losing more than I like winning, and I think that’s a mentality that I carried with myself through my entire career, my hand on the wall first most of the time.  The feeling right now is something I never want to feel again,” she said. “Moments like this are what I think about in training when I’m dying in a hard set and have to keep pushing.”

McIntosh has yet to commit to keeping the 800 free as part of her event lineup the 2028 Olympics, calling the event an addition to her usual core of the 400 free, 200 butterfly and both IM events. The event order for the next Games has not been announced, but the 800 would not have fit in McIntosh’s schedule in Paris because of an overlap with the 200 IM.

But given what transpired here, expect to see her back in the 800 free chasing the race that eluded her on Saturday in Singapore.

“That definitely will fuel me to continue to do it until I master it and execute it the way I want it and stand on top of the podium at the international level,” McIntosh said.